Wringer and drainboard apparatus



July 9,1940 .1. c. cLAPPER IET Al. 22075215 WRINGER AND DRAINBOARDAPPARATUS Filed July s1,r 19s? Patented July 9, 1940 A UNITED STATESWRINGER AND DRAINBOARD APPARATUS John C. Clapper and David A. Constance,Altoona, Pa.

Applicationv July 31, 1937, Serial No. 156,821

2 Claims.

` The present invention relates to washing machines and moreVparticularly to a novel wringer and drainboard relationship. Thewringer and drainboard arrangement to bedisclosed herein is adaptablefor use in conjunction with washing machines of the domestic type or inassociation with commercial laundry equipment.

An object of the invention is to provide a safe,

simple wringer and drainboard arrangement in order that an operator,standing in any position about the wringer, may quickly feed throughsaid wringer. a large quantity of washed material without fear of injuryto the operator.

Another object of the invention Vresides in the use of horizontallydisposed rollers which may turn in either direction, to facilitate theprogress therethrough of the material to be wrung out and vat the-timeprovide for ldisposal of the water passing from the material effected bythe wringing action of the rollers.

'Other objects and advantages will become apparent in View of thefollowing description taken in conjunction with the drawing, wherein:

Fig. 1 is an elevation of a domestic type of washing machine" disclosinga rear view of the combination guide member and drainboard;

Fig. 2 is also an elevation showing a side View of the same;

v Fig. 3 is a top plan view showing the disposal of the rollers, thedrainboard, and their relation- 'ship to the tub;

Y Fig. Llis a cross sectional View in detail of the rollers and thedrainboard, the drainbo-ard being shown in an alternate position inbroken lines; and, Fig. 5 is a view in perspective partially in crosssection showing one form of drainboard that might be used as an elementin our novel arrangement.

Referring to the drawing, a domestic type washing machine IU havingcasters or wheels Il providing for the portability of the device in theusual manner, is depicted as having a casing `I2 for housing drivingmechanism for operating a-vertically alined shaft, within a tubularhousing I3, which shaft engages a driving train within a protectingcasing I4 which is operatively ,connected to a roller I5. A cooperatingroller I6 is provided for association with the roller I5. Said rollersare mounted on bracket member I1 having suitable bearings therein forthe reception of shaft portions I8 lying in the same horizontal plane.Revoluble supports I9 supported on the bracket member Il are mounted forrotation about an axis passing through said bracket member and havingsecured thereto at As more clearly shown in Fig. 4 a spring means l5:

22l is-secured on said bracket members I'I in a suitable manner forengaging the pin member 23 on said revoluble supports I9 in order thatthe drain Aand guide board 2l may be supported in a position above theroller I6 when the said 10 rollers are so operated to pass clothes,about to be wrung out, upwardly through the passage between saidrollers.

The spring means 22 comprises a conventional leaf spring as illustratedin Fig. 4, bent as shown to securely engage and hold the pin member 23secured to the revolvable support I9 when same is moved to its upperposition as is also illustrated. The frictional engagement between thepin member 23 and leaf spring 22 is such as normally to hold the guidemember 2| in the position shown in dot and dash lines in this figure,but not great enough to prevent the rotation of the arm I9 by theoperator to release the pin 23, whereby the guide member 2| may take theposition shown in full lines.

A feed baille member 24 is'hingedly supported at 2da on the rear`portions of bracket member I'I in such a manner that when said bafemember is arranged in its highest position and said rollers areoperating to pass clothes upwardly therebetween, then clothes will befed from roller I6 and on to the drainboard and guide member 2 I.

The drainboard and clothes guide 2| comprising a flat sheet like bodyportion with its opposite side flanged upwardly to provide guideportions may have a series of perforations 25 therein arranged in ageometrical or other pattern o-r they may take the form of that indrainboard 2|', as depicted in Fig. 5, showing lateral slit-likeperforations 26, each of said perforations being provided with adepending lip portion 21. The drainboard and guide member may be coatedwith any suitable material.

A handle member 28 is provided on protecting housing I4 to permitarranging gears therein for operation of the rollers in such directionthat clothes may pass therethrough' downwardly or upwardly.

With the drainboard 2| in position beneath the wringer rollers I5 andI6, and with the handle 28 so set that the wringer rollers will operateto pass clothes therethrough downwardly, an operator may then, from anyposition about the wringer rollers, without special care being taken toprotect himself or herself from the action of said rollers, merely placeclothes upon the two rollers which will then engage the clothes to bewrung out, wring them out and pass them on the drainboard and clothesguide 2l. Water wrung out from said clothes will pass through theperforations 25 back into the tub of the washing machine, the clothespassing on and down the guide member into a clothes basket or otherreceptacle, not shown, which may be there provided for the reception ofwrung out clothes or other material.

When the wringer is to be arranged so that the rollers pass wet clothestherebetween in an upward direction, then the drain and guide board 2lis swung out and above the roller I6 in a manner to cause the pins 23 toengage the spring members 22 locking the drainboard and guide member 2lin its upper position. The hinged baiiie member 24- is then swung aboutto its upper position. The operator may then simply reach for clothesthat have been washed in the tub and place them in proximity to thelower portion of the line of contact between the two rollers, theclothes will then be wrung out and passed upwardly and by the operationof the baille member 24 the clothes will be urged over perforateddrainboard and guide member 2i from whence they may pass tothe clothesbasket or other receiving means provided for that purpose.

The drainboard 2l has been designed particularly for use with thearrangement just disclosed. Clothes passing through the rollers in themanner heretofore described and fed on to said drainboard 2 I passdownwardly also in the manner already described. Water wrung out fromsaid clothes, however, will adhere to the surface of the drainboard andguide member and by capillary attraction will seek the lower edges ofthe lips 2? and drip therefrom back to the tub beneath. The wrung outclothes will thereby be sufciently dry and effectively separated fromthe wrung out water.

Previously, operators of wringers having dual rollers haveA found whenusing wringers having vertically disposed rollers that they must assumea certain position relative to said rollers and that much caution mustbe exercised in order to prevent portions of the person from beingengaged between the wringing surfaces of the rollers during theiroperation, for the wet material must be fed horizontally and sometimesstarted by pressing the said material between the rollers with thengers. rThis fact is evidenced by the appearance on the market of manysafety devices for ceasing action of said rollers when a inger of theoperator or other foreign member is engaged between the operatingportions of the rollers. Though such safety devices may be incorporatedin a clothes washer and wringer, embodying our invention, it is believedthat the need for such safetyl devices is lessened by our novel andadvantageous arrangement.

In accordance with our invention, it is to be understood that thebracket member I'I and case ing I 4 may be pivotally connected withtubular housing I3 and hence may be swung about in a complete circle,'ifnecessary, whereby a single wringer and drainboard outt will suflice tocomplement a plurality of. tubs. When the bracket member is so mounted,a suitable key or lockl not shown, may be provided to lock bracketmember I'I to housing I3 in any operative position. A

It will be obvious to those skilled in the art that various changes maybe made in our device without departing from the spirit of the inventionand therefore we do not limit ourselves to what is shown in the drawingand described in the specication but only as indicated in the appendedclaims.

We claim:

1. A wringer and drainboard assembly comprising a frame, substantiallyhorizontally disposed substantially parallel rollers mounted in saidframe, the axes of which rollers lie in substantially the samehorizontal plane, an inclined perforated drainboard of appreciablelength suspended from said frame by swingable linkage means near theupper end thereof and adapted to be supported near its other end, saidlinkage being selectively operable to permit the upper end of saiddrainboard to be positioned below the plane of said rollers and the sameend to be positioned above said plane, holding means associated withsaid assembly for holding said drainboard in secure position with one ofits ends positioned above the axis of said rollers, whereby when said.drainboard is in its first position with respect to the rollers clothesto be Wrung out may be fed to the upper surface of said rollers andpassed therethrough on to the drainboard, the water from the wrung outclothes passing through the perforations in the drainboard and therelatively dry clothes moving on along the drainboard to a receptaclewhich may be placed below the lower end thereof, and when saiddrainboard is in said second position, clothes to be wrung out may beied to the lower surface of said rollers, passed upwardly through therollers and on to the drainboard. e

2. The structure recited in claim l, and a baille member hingedlymounted on said wringer assembly and operable to be swung to an upwardbaffling position when one end of said drainboard is in position abovethe axis of said rollers, whereby clothes to be wrung out fed upwardlythrough said rollers will be urged to move on to said drainboard, saidbaiile member being further operable to be swung to a lower out of theway position when the upper end of said drainboard is mounted below theaxis of the said rollers, whereby substantially the entire uppersurfaces of the rollers are free for the application thereto of clothesto be wrung out and passed on to said perforated drainboard.

JOHN C'. CLAPPER. DAVID A. CONSTANCE.

